Emanuel and the Clockwork Prince
by Miss-98
Summary: *This is a remake of the old fan fiction* Emanuel is a person whose fate is interlocked with Axel Mortmain. One day he is asked by his master and foster-father, Mortmain, to pretend he's a Shadowhunter and bring Tessa Grey to him. Eventually after staying in the London Institute Emanuel finds himself wondering who is right and who is wrong.
1. The young years

**Hi**, I think there might be some that recognizes the name of this fanfiction. I published this story over a year ago and I wasn't pleased with how it had turned out so I deleted the old story and decided to change it. This new story will be a little bit like the old but overall it won't be the same story. If you have any questions, just ask! :)

A part of this/story/these/characters belongs to the lovely Cassandra Clare. The rest is from me.

* * *

**England, the countryside, 1865**

Emanuel woke up with a sudden jerk from his sleep. He'd had a nightmare that involved a strange kind of faeries, not the usual ones Mortmain spoke of but faeries with mighty, white wings. The angel-faeries had been dancing, whirling around in an endless circle of dance. Emanuel had been in the dream as well but he had felt a strong need to move into the inside of the circle but somehow he was aware that if the circle was broken, it would never be repaired again. Despite of Emanuel's awareness he had let go of the other two hands he'd been holding. Just at that very moment, the faeries evaporated into thin air, leaving behind a thick black fog, which made Emanuel cough until he was coughing up blood. Fortunately it had all just been a dream.

A loud hammering from door came and a dark voice shouted: "Up you go, the master wants you ready in his study in less then ten minutes."

It was Jack, Mortmain's current houseboy. He was one of the many mundane boys that was working for the master. Some months after doing work for Mortmain the mundane boys could disappear but if they behaved well, they could stay. Although they were never informed that work for Mortmain meant a matter of life or death. Emanuel on the other hand, was not one of the ill-fated boys. He was the fosterson of Mortmain.

"You asked for me?" Emanuel inquired. The grey-haired man whose name was Mortmain didn't look up from his papers, he never glanced up to see who it was that had entered the room. It gave Emanuel the indication that Mortmain wasn't eager to meet the person. But it was common of his foster-father to never give a person attention, the ten year-old boy knew that.

"10 years of raising you and it never falls into to you that you use with the word 'master' when you speak to me."

Emanuel hold in a sigh to say: "My apologizes, master."

Mortmain carried on with glaring down at his papers and franticly writing.

"Well, well…" The foster-father began; he raised his eyes to Emanuel who was standing there and still wearing his nightclothes. Mortmain's grey eyes squinted at the sight of Emanuel's nightclothes and it was an automatic reaction for Emanuel to look away. It was constantly difficult for him to look a person in the eye and it was even harder if the person was Mortmain.

"You have much to learn, I can tell…but I still find that you have reached the age to be given a task."

Emanuel's smiled, even if he could at rare times feel stings of vex towards Mortmain for being so harsh on him all Emanuel required was to prove his worth to the master.

"Your task includes a journey, to New York, where you must look for a family. This family hold a strong significance meaning to me and they mustn't know that you are there-"

"Why?" Emanuel interrupted.

Mortmain's cheeks turned red, he barked: "You mustn't disrupt me, young boy. You should be glad that you're even given a task."

The master had a way of making Emanuel feel less of a person and more as a foolish child but he deserved being barked at after all Mortmain was his only family in the world and the man was only trying to school him.

Silence loomed in the room while the two of them glared at one another. Emanuel kept howling to himself in his head to not less his gaze down, he desired to be like his foster-father. A man who'd never show weakness by lowering his head.

At last Mortmain hissed:

"Although I maybe was to quick to tell if you're capable of such serious matters. There is someone else that is more suiting for this kind of task."

Emanuel walked closer to the desk that separated the two. If the master would need Emanuel to beg for the task, he would. Even if it made him feel pathetic it was worth it.

"Master, I'm very sorry. My excitement took over. I've been waiting so long for you to give me a job or something to do, so I can help you with your cunning plan."

They exchanged stares again until Mortmain finally spoke: "Jack will go with you, he knows where you can find the family. I want you to look for the female infant in the family. Tell me if she looks healthy, report to me of how the family is treating her. You'll have a month."

Emanuel's heart was racing quicker now, he was on the verge of smiling foolishly until he reminded himself that he was still in front of the master, it wouldn't be appreciated. Even if traveling with Jack bothered him he was vivd now that he was more involved in the plan which also meant one step closer to the one thing that interlaced Mortmain's fate with Emanuel's fate. The plan.

* * *

"The Shadowhunters are your enemies." Those were the words Mortmain frequently reminded Emanuel of during the years of his upbringing. From the early years of understanding speech to Emanuel's early teens. The questing that constantly emerged from those words were why? And who were the Shadowhunters?

Emanuel would look back at his childhood as being separated from the world, forced to obey Mortmain without any contact from the other world. During rare accusations and for educational purposes Emanuel was allowed to travel with his foster-father to London. He would learn how to manipulate people whenever Mortmain had one of his "vital" meetings, he'd also teach Emanuel how to make others trust him and use them for one's own gain but it was never a matter of Emanuel's gain, rather Mortmain's gain. The minute Emanuel would question Mortmain's words the reaction from his foster-father resulted with a slap. It took a long while for Emanuel to understand and gasp why Mortmain's was making him work with the mechanical devices and to his luck, Emanuel was granted a teacher. One day, he had disappeared and Emanuel had grown old enough to realize that not he shouldn't ask where the teacher was, so he pretended that the man had never existed.

Life was harsh and tedious for Emanuel Holt but the day came when Mortmain explained his plan, the reasons behind it and why he'd constantly remind Emanuel of the horrible Shadowhunters.

* * *

**England, London, 1868**

"Shall I serve the breakfast now or do you prefer to wait?" The butler Molin asked. Emanuel was deeply intrigued in his books and journals that he didn't hear. Molin gave a soft humming sound.

"Ah, yes, I'll have it now." answered Emanuel.

Molin bowed and left the room. Emanuel went back to his journal. He was looking at a skiss of an automaton. Emanuel had scribbled out different parts of it's frame, Mortmain had given him the great honor to name the different anatomic-like parts of their creatures. In the automatons' joints were spherical plain bearings so they could move easily. Emanuel, himself had come up with the genius plan to wire the plain bearings there but the skiss had been handed to him from Mortmain's hand. It belonged to a dear friend of his, "a very curious inventor", Mortmain had said. His name was Eric and he'd come from the New World to showcase his inventions, unluckily he'd been killed by Shadowhunters. Eric fell in the pile of people dear to Mortmain that had fallen under the sword from a Shadowhunter. It was clear and righteous that the master desired revenge, Emanuel thought, and what more cunning revenge was there than the plan Mortmain had created.

"The breakfast, sir." Molin had creaked up on Emanuel. The butler made Emanuel uncomfortable, he always showed up too soon whenever he was called upon and his intrusive eyes gave shivers up Emanuels' spine, almost as if the butler never let his eyes leave the sight of him. At times, Emanuel asked himself if Mortmain ever hired Molin so he could spy on Emanuel.

"You may leave it on the desk."

Molin did as he'd been told and left. On the plate was scrambled eggs, Emanuel's favorite, and beans, not really Emanuel's favorite but he dug into to the food and carried wondering if he should make some new changes to the automation. Maybe he ought to use another alloy for its arms, the change could be more useful and produce a more heavy knockout to its opponent. Emanuel settled on taking one of the unfinished automatons to the workshop located in the basement after he finished his breakfast.

* * *

John walked around the table to examine the automaton further, Emanuel stood by impatiently watching and stamping his foot lightly on the floor. John was one of the few men that Mortmain had picked out to work for him, John was cunning and curious but the trait that stood out the most was his loyalty. Mortmain had mentioned to Emanuel that during one of Mortmains' trips to a repair yard, one of the horses that was enchained to the carriage and standing infront of Mortmain had lifted up its hooves and just before it landed on Emanuel's foster-father John had pushed him aside and injured himself severely by saving the master.

Emanuel would have enjoyed operating with John if it had not been for his strange interest in performing experiments on vampires, faeries, warlocks and werewolves. Sometimes he'd wake up from the shrieks from the basement, and feel a need to end John's life so the creatures wouldn't suffer anymore but Mortmain would end Emanuels' life if he'd ever do such a thing. Besides Emanuel had tried saving them once and it ended up in a mess and a lot of deaths.

"We could try mixing aluminum with iron but I'm afraid the iron would just make it heavier and slower." John blurted out.

"Trying wouldn't hurt?" enquired Emanuel.

John nodded, saying:"I enjoy your philosophies as a scientist." How could such a horrible man act out as if he's a good man?

"Tell Molin to come to me when you're finished." Emanuel uttered and left the room as fast as he could.


	2. An undying memory

**England, London, 1866**

Grey was the colour of the girls' eyes. She appeared to be only between the ages of two to four, and her mother was carrying her. The father was holding her older brothers' hand because he couldn't stay still and would run away if the father would let go. A woman who looked similar to the young girls' mother was walking next to them. They seemed to be full of life and joy.

Emanuel could not stop thinking of them. Why did their lives, well the girls' life, interfere and matter so much to the plan? Emanuel had not been asked by Mortmain to find them again since the last time he'd travelled to New York, apparently the master needed only to be sure they were alive. The terrifying thought that Mortmain might replace Emanuel with the girl made him shudder, what could possibly be so great about her? The young girl must be too fragile to work for Mortmain, Emanuel persuaded himself. There ought be no chance of replacing Emanuel, all though minor mistakes had occurred, caused by Emanuel, the master was merciful with him. Except that one time when they were making their first trip to London together. Emanuel would never forgot that memory, it was right of his master to react the way he had.

* * *

_"Stop muddle around, Emanuel." Mortmain hissed at the five year-old. They were making it downstairs and out, to the carriage. _

_"I'm sorry, it's just-" said Emanuel before he was interrupted._

_"You must always remember to respond to me with the word, "master". Otherwise there will not be any dinner for you tonight." _

_"I'm sorry, master, I'm excited because it's always been a wish of mine to see London." _

_Axel Mortmain responded by pulling the five year-olds' arm. It hurt Emanuel but the chance of him mentioning it was little so he was quiet. The coachman opened the door to them and Mortmain went in and after followed Emanuel. During their journey to London the little boy was quiet, he had already learned that he'd only speak to his master if he was being spoken to. _

_Many hours passed by and eventually the carriage stopped. Emanuel was eager to leave the carriage since he'd been undiverted from the long ride. Apparently they were in a village, infront of them was a grand and old lodge. Mortmain marched towards the lodge and as a obedient servant Emanuel marched behind him. The inside of the lodge began with a corridor followed by a large saloon, a pedant hang from the high celling and there were wooden tables with chairs, a few people had located themselves on the tables and no one looked up as Mortmain and Emanuel entered the room. A tall woman walked up to them: "Welcome to Black's tavern. What are your requests?_

_"I require the best room you have. And I need three hot meals." Mortmain responded. _

_"Of course, would you have your meals now?" _

_Mortmain nodded and seated himself on a table, Emanuel sat across from him. The woman brought them two meals and said she'll bring the other one when the coachman arrives. _

_"Your room is number fourteen, it's up the stairs and to your right." remarked the woman and gave Mortmain the key. _

_"Go help him." Mortmain commanded, giving the boy the key. Emanuel hadn't even tasted the hot soup but he rushed up and took off to help the coachman, he was taking down the luggages. Without exchanging words, the coachman gave him two heavy bags to carry up to their room. _

_By the time Emanuel had dragged both of the luggages up the stairs he was sweaty and huffed. An old woman dressed all in black headed towards him._

_"Do you need help?" she asked. _

_Emanuel wasn't too sure if he'd say yes but the woman could be one of the servants working here so he nodded instead. The old woman who was surpassingly strong lifted both of the luggages, took the key from his hands and went ahead of Emanuel to room fourteen. The boy was shocked, how could she know what room was theirs?_

_The woman left the room before Emanuel had even gone in there. _

_"How did you know it was our room?" Emanuel inquired. _

_The woman shrugged, offering him the key:"I work here and the hirer told me to help you." _

* * *

_After finishing their meals Emanuel, Mortmain and the coachman took off to their room. The three of them were tired enough to fall asleep at once. _

_Someone shook Emanuel out of his sleep: "Wake up, you moron!"_

_Emanuel opened his eyes slightly and saw Mortmain glaring down at him. He held in his hand a bloody knife and a key. _

_"Did you let this woman into our room?" The master was pointing at a woman who was lying in a puddle of blood. It was the first time Emanuel had ever seen a dead person in real life, he began feeling sick to his stomach. Emanuel couldn't bear to look at her. _

_"Yes." Emanuel managed to whisper. _

_Mortmain slapped him across his cheek. It burned and the boy could feel the taste of blood. _

_"You dim boy, do you know who she was? She was a Shadowhunter, she had taken the other key that was in this room and sneaked in here during the night to kill all of us!" barked Mortmain. The coachman wasn't there, he must had left to fetch for help. _

_"She had lied to me...sh..she said she worked h..here." Emanuel whispered. Any minute and he'd be barfing._

_Mortmain slapped him again and it was a wonder that Emanuel didn't barf. _

_"You can never trust anyone else than me! No one else, everyone in this world will betray you but I will always be the one to depend on." Mortmain sounded furious, he was breathing heavily. _

_"Tonight you will sleep outside, just next to the carriage. It might teach you to know that you can only be safe under my watch. Tomorrow you'll go back to the country-house I made a foolish mistake to think that you could come with me to London." _

_Emanuel shivered. He'd never forgot to not once make such a mistake ever again._

* * *

**Any comments on this chapter? :)**


	3. Solitude

**Chapter three**

During most of his years Emanuel never stopped feeling alone, although his foster-fathers' servants were constantly nearby to watch him and take care of him that feeling of isolation never leaved him. From an early age he knew it would be this way, any signs of hesitating Mortmain's choices resulted in punishment. Therefore it was decided that Emanuel would bury himself into the assignments he was given to make Mortmain proud and forget the depressing environment he was in.

In another way Emanuel knew he was lucky, an orphanage with no family to care for him wouldn't receive the education he was granted. Private tutors from the best schools around the world taught him in subjects such as mechanism, maths, physics, chemistry, language and so on. Eventually when Emanuel entered his teen years Mortmain presented the automatons, the specimen that he was told to develop and test on. Emanuel had worked with the automatons with his mechanic teacher, who after some years went up in smoke and didn't return. Since this happened to many people Emanuel met in his life the boy figured this was Mortmain's doings. It bothered him and sometimes it wasn't unavoidable to think it was his fault they had to leave, this developed to guilt thoughts. Life wasn't the greatest for him, he thought but the determination to survive was greater than the losses in his life.

Because of the lack of companionship and possibilities to meet others and form any relationships Emanuel had to dive into books where all the fictional characters were his friends. Late nights were spent near the fireplace in the bedroom and in his mind he followed his strange, witty and eccentric friends to where their adventures brought them.

Mortmain began to notice how his foster son became less and less detached to the real world, sometimes it was as if the boy wasn't present in his mind but only his body. It became a realization that things needed to change, so every Sunday night Mortmain dined with his son. At first it was unbearable for him to sit with the boy, every minute not working on his plans was a waste of time but he knew it would pay off eventually.

The little boy was only excited to feel as if someone had finally acknowledged his existence. Though he was little Emanuel knew that his foster father found him annoying so he decided to behave and only speak when being spoken to.

The idea worked and the two formed some strange bond to each other, not the relationship shared between a father and a boy, neither the one between a teacher and the student but the relationship between people who somehow needed each other for survival. For those years Emanuel spent with Mortmain the relationship functioned though a drastic switch in Emanuel's environment and the beginning of his real task only meant one thing for this relationship; that it would eventually break as such do all things built on lies.


	4. Bittersweet

**Chapter four**

"See how the ball-bearing isn't oily enough? That was the reason your automaton couldn't properly raise its arms and since it was smeared in grease that irritating noise was created which eventually caused the automaton to scorch. I will try to find something that should replace the ball-bearings you used." Mr Tweents said to Emanuel while using a screw to tear apart Emanuel's month's long work.

Mr Tweents was a tutor in mechanics and he was certainly special which Emanuel took notice to. Thomas George Tweents was passionate about his work and was always exited to help Emanuel in whatever he required help in. Emanuel found him to be one of the few teachers who actually helped the boy instead of becoming upset and frustrated whenever Emanuel had a hard time understanding something.

Mr Tweents returned quickly with a silvered object in his hands and Emanuel listened carefully to his teacher so he'd be impressed by Emanuel, it felt agreeable to watch someone so heavily focused on work than being bothered by the environment around.

* * *

It was another rainy, dull day but at least today Emanuel was able to do work for Mortmain, he was going to watch how it was going for the gray-eyed girl. She was so beautiful to him but it wasn't only outer appearance he noticed but as well her gentle personality that shows through her. Her parents would take her to the park and the girl would always include all the children because her parents had given her toys the other children were impressed by. Emanuel had with him a guard that never spoke to him until he gave orders to Emanuel so it was boring until he spent those few minutes to watch the girl.

The place where he would watch her was the same, behind the bushes in a park in New York, the place was magnificent to the boy who hadn't seen this kind of city. The countryside in England was more quiet and calm but being in the park still remembered one that one was in a large city. Since Mortmain did not want anyone to notice Emanuel and his guard he had ice-cream and a toy with him, considering a little boy on a bench in the park just glaring would look strange.

The toy he had, the ice-cream and seeing the girl made Emanuel glad, it was one of these moments that made him confused because it was hard to gasp for him at a young age that people could pretend to be good or bad. To him everyone was either bad or good so whenever Mortmain showed him any signs of kindness it would be hard to rearrange his impression of Mortmain. But he bothered not to give these thoughts any time, he wanted to have peace when he got to see her. Once Emanuel was yelled at or felt alone he would pretend that he and the girl were best friends, that they would laugh together and play together as the children outside did. She would be kind to him and share her toys with her and he would repay the favor. One time stomach pains would hit him because he missed her so much and he hated the face that he wasn't able to speak with her and talk to her.

When Emanuel grew older he noticed that the parents stopped taking her to the park, therefore he asked Mortmain why.

"Her parents are dead." Mortmain answered coldly.

The words came as a punch to the boy, the inside of him was cold and for once he truly wished he wasn't himself. All that Emanuel desired was to speak with who he hoped would become his friend and comfort her. The following days he cried for the things he missed, the things every child needed but didn't have. He cried for the girl and for the parents he never met or would meet.


	5. The act of kindess

**Chapter five**

Weeks went by and life kept moving on, the sky showed signs of heavy rain that was approaching although it was about to become June. There hadn't been much for Emanuel to do since the house was about to be prepared for the winter season and Emanuel would move to Mortmain's summerhouse. It was also a few days until Mr Tweents would go missing, that Emanuel knew. Therefore he spent as much time with the tutor as possible and not only was Emanuel upset over the girl's parents but he felt worse because every time before summer his tutors would disappear. The little boy had tried to convince Mortmain to not continue on with this, instead let of making them disappear into thin air he could force them to leave the country by threatening them or such.

"Are you listening, Emanuel?" Mr Tweents asked with a concerned look.

"What? Ah, sorry." Emanuel uttered bewildered, he was sitting in the classroom and Mr Tweents was teaching him how to make the automatons efficient.

"Is there something your mind, boy? You look as if your mind has left the room."

"No, sir. I'm just feeling ill."

Mr Tweents raised his eyebrows, demonstrating that he didn't believe the lie.

"I may be just a mechanics teacher but it doesn't take a telepathic person to understand you're not telling the truth."

Emanuel was unsure to tell him why he was upset, maybe it was a trap set up by Mortmain? But Mr Tweents had always been kind and certainly did not look like he would take an order from Mortmain if it meant he'd trick Emanuel.

"I...", Emanuel muttered, "I had a dream." Mr Tweents looked upbeat and tilted his head to the side.

"My parents were in it." Emanuel finally said.

"But you have never met them according to your foster-father. How were you sure it was them?"

Emanuel shrugged: "It felt like it was them. I don't know, I think I miss them."

Mr Tweents looked concerned, he placed the chalk on the table and seated himself next Emanuel.

"I used to have a daughter."

"Used to?" Emanuel asked coming off almost a little rude. "Sorry, sir, I just meant-"

"It is all right. Her name was Lily and she was the most curios creature ever. My wife and I loved her dearly since we had tried so hard to have a child."

Mr Tweents sighed and it almost seemed that he would start to cry.

"But...I was too busy working, you see, me and my partner had worked very hard on this invention. I came home very late so I missed saying good night to Lily and I always left to early to say good morning. One day I was asked to come home immediately, I was upset that my wife forgotten that it was the day we would present the invention to investors. I ignored her message and when I came home...no one seemed to be downstairs not even the servants. So I went up and heard weeping from my daughter's bedroom. Apparently Lily had ran outside after a quarrel with her mother and without looking rused to the streets where a carriage had hit her."

"My apologizes, I'm very sorry to hear-". Emanuel was so shocked from the story, he couldn't imagine that someone would tell him such a deep, dreadful deed.

"My wife couldn't bear the pain of losing her child. She left me one night without telling me instead she had written a letter where she explained she went to live with her parents in the countryside. In just a week I had lost my family."

"Again, I'm sorry for the loss in your life, sir." Emanuel didn't understand why he would tell him such a horrible story now he only felt worse than before.

"No one is only good or bad, Emanuel, but that is not what truly matters. What matters is if you chose to be a better person and that you never take your loved ones for granted. I never knew your parents but I'm sure they loved you and that they would never stop loving you. One day you will have a family, that's when you will learn that nothing is stronger than the bond between a child and its parents."

They sat quietly next to each other, thinking. After a while Mr Tweents got up and was about to leave the room before he uttered:

"I think we're done today, we'll start tomorrow the same time."

* * *

The hour was very late although Emanuel tried to fall asleep he never managed to, he was turning and changing sides. Mr Tweents's story left him thinking, some part of him desired to help his kind tutor but another kept reminding him of what Mortmain would do with his foster-son. There was this turn and pull between his kind side and his reasonable side. Even though he was going to help Mr Tweents from not "disappearing" how would it be possible? What if Mr Tweents wouldn't believe him or worse what if Mr Tweents would be foolish enough to confront Mortmain of what his foster-son had told him?

Emanuel checked the pocket watch he had had since he could remember: the hour was quite late so the boy tried to count sheep thinking the ideas would have to wait until the morning.

* * *

"Good morning", Mr Tweents said as Emanuel entered the classroom he was taught in every day. His tutor seemed to share the experience of a sleepless night, the dark circles under his eyes were heavier and the rat-coloured hair was entangled. Luckily the silly idea of counting sheep lead him to rather think of various ideas of how to help Mr Tweents and he had thought of a quite good one but it involved an invasion of Mr Tweents private life.

"Good morning, sir. I was thinking and...I apologize in advance if my question is rude but what was your wife's name?"

He seemed shocked at the question. "Why is that important to you?"

"I was thinking if the name I heard about was the same as your wife's, you see, not long ago I was in a tavern, traveling with my foster-father, and I heard some men discussing an almost exact story of yours and this woman who left her husband was quite...sick."

"Sick?"

"Yes, she expressed regrets of leaving this...man." It was difficult to lie to such a warm-hearted person but Emanuel knew it was for the better. "She required to see him."

Mr Tweents glared at his student, his expression was doubtful but it appeared that Mr Tweents sought to believe Emanuel's lie.

"Well...I wouldn't trust that this woman you heard of would be my..wife but if you need to know, her name is Elisa Smith, she must have taken back her father's last name after what... occurred."

"Elisa? I don't remember that well but I think the name overheard in the tavern was something as Lydia."

Mr Tweents sighed. "Shall we carry on and leave this behind? I hope you won't bring this up again, I understand you mean well but it distracts us from work."

* * *

That same evening Emanuel sat at his desk in his room to write a letter signed from Elisa Smith, the letter mentioned how Elisa had received another letter from a concerned women writing of how her husband never returned home after working for Mortmain and a warning that the same would happen to Mr Tweents if he didn't leave unnoticed. After the first letter Emanuel began writing on the one that was going be sent to Elisa, fortunately Emanuel knew where Mr Tweents used to live and it was easy to find Elisa's adress since there's was only Elisa Smith in that town, that afternoon he had gone to the post office. Emanuel didn't forget to mention in the letter to Elisa that the worried woman had written another letter to Mr Tweents to leave but if he should not return she would have to write a new letter to her husband. Emanuel also knew the boy who brought mail in the morning so Emanuel had to wake up earlier to meet with him and tell him the letter is for his tutor. The boy wouldn't talk to anyone of this if he was given some coins, so the next morning went well without any worries. But the next morning Emanuel woke up from screaming and if he wasn't mistaken he heard the screams coming from Mortmain's room, the words "left, "unseen" and "useless guards" were being said again and again. Emanuel left the bed, dressed, ate breakfast and went to the classroom. Mr Tweents had left a letter signed to Emanuel, there was only two words written on it.

_"Thank you."_

* * *

**_Any thoughts on this chapter? Let me know :)_**


	6. The present years

**Chapter five**

Luckily Emanuel somehow wasn't a suspect of the involvement with what had happened to Mr Tweents instead Mortmain let it pass unnoticed, the man hadn't even told Emanuel why he had yelled that morning Mr Tweents left. Now was the time to carry on with Mortmain's life long work - the automatons. Despite having saved a life Emanuel still was unsettled of the coming years because he would spend the rest of the days alone since there would be no more tutors. For the majority of his life that was spent was in solitude it yet became more and more difficult for Emanuel to endure. There was also nights spent thinking about what was to happen after the plan had worked, after all the life long work. If all the early years evolved around the plan what would happen of the rest of his years, would he still be serving Mortmain? That was how it felt, he thought, that the sole reason he took care of him was to use him but whenever Emanuel found himself onto that thinking path a sense of shame crept upon him. How could he think so low of his foster-father? The only reason Mortmain spent little time with him was for work in order to support them both and the man wouldn't have been able to provide for Emanuel without working. The story of why Mortmain had adopted him was told by himself to Emanuel from an early age. It is a memory that is remembered by Emanuel very well. The day was raining and it was New Years Eve so most of servants had only worked briefly for the day and left during the afternoon, strange enough when little Emanuel had left his room to drink he found Mortmain sitting on an armchair in the parlour. His foster-father had heard his footsteps and quickly turned his head, he seemed relived to see it wasn't an intruder.

"Come in", Mortmain said. "You've asked a lot about your parents so it is time for you learn about their story."

Without hesitating Emanuel seated himself on the floor next to Mortmain.

"I've always wanted to know more, sir."

"It's a difficult story, you're certainly...a special boy and that is probably why I need you. Your father was a good friend of mine from university and he helped throughout challenging times and your mother was kind, warm-hearted. But I must admit that it was their kind hearts that led them to their deaths. When you had just been born, you were only a month, your father received a letter stating he was invited to a ball. These people inviting him and your mother were Shadowhunters and I knew of them so I warned your father not to go but he would not believe me, he said that I was being foolish. On the night they departed I offered to take care of in case they were looking for you too. Your parents said that they would have come home at midnight but when the clock was one in the morning I was afraid something had happened so I took you to my home. I also managed to alert the constabulary but when they had arrived at the scenery it was unfortunately to late. Your parentes had been murdered by the Shadowhunters."

"Why did they do it? Why did they kill them?" Emanuel asked dishearten, almost screaming. He remembered how sad he was, how everything seemed to fade away and all he saw was his parents lying on the ground in a puddle of blood. Everything felt heavy and he almost wanted to hurt Mortmain for telling him this, the little boy still wanted to believe his parents were alive.

"They killed your parents because they are vicious, they killed my parents as well for trying to help others. Your father and mother had to die because Shadowhunters did not want your father to finish his work."

"But my mother, why her?" Emanuel was now screaming, tears running down his face.

"I told you, they are horrible and only care about themselves and that is why we must destroy them. That is why I take care of you, we need each other for our revenge and to complete my father's work."

That became his first impression of Shadowhunters, that they were evil and his enemies yet he somehow still managed to doubt Mortmain's words and he had hoped that Mortmain was not speaking the truth but why the little boy was not sure of.

* * *

**Early 1878 **

"Are you finished with your letters?" Emanuel asked the irritating Nathaniel. It felt unbelievable that his foster-father would hire such an imbecile to work for them, the boy acted without wit and irrational and Emanuel trusted that Nathaniel would not be working here for long.

"Yes, yes, dammit. I just need signature it." The blonde-haired boy answered rudely. The fact that he was related to the girl Emanuel had admired when he was younger seemed impossible - certainly did the girl not resemble her relative, Emanuel thought.

All the years had passed by quickly as a flash and even though Emanuel was old enough Mortmain had not informed his foster-son of the entire plan, the few things Emanuel knew of were the things he was obligated to do and apparently taking letters written to the girl, Tessa, from Nathaniel to the post office was one of them. How could Mortmain allow his best asset perform such commissions that was beneath him? Surely it would change, he tried to convince himself. Nonetheless it seemed that if Emanuel's foster-father desired to remind Emanuel that he did not differ from the others who worked for him although he was "a part of the family" to quote the man himself.

"I'm finished", Nathaniel handed Emanuel the letter and Emanuel departed as quick as possible to the post office and returned just as quickly as he had left to work on his machines.

The majoritet of the automatons were in good shape and he had finished just two completely which meant that the metal-shapes that formed a human body was covered in skin, he had made gaps in the middle of the faces to put in false eyeballs and a servant had purchased cloths and wigs for the creatures. These were not the first ones that were ready for use, another automaton had operated within the house but after a few days its functions began to weaken and it did not perform its task so it had to be destroyed. The rest of the day was spent in the work-room since two automatons were required by Mortmain and within a week they were shipped off for another part of Mortmain's cunning plan. Emanuel was informed by Nathaniel that Tessa had arrived to London. Emanuel wondered if it was imaginable that he would meet her since he was not sure why Mortmain needed her but one fact was certain - Mortmain needed her alive.

* * *

_**Any thoughts on this chapter?**_


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